rs for a week, invited as many
of them as chose to come to a public exhibition given by himself. The
natives came by scores, and the reader may be sure that Houdin did his
best. The Singhalese "sleight-o'-hand men," when they saw him perform
many of their own tricks with far greater expertness than they could
do, were surprised beyond measure. He then exhibited others so strange
and so inexplicable to them that the Singhalese declared he must be in
league with evil spirits. In their performances they were openly
assisted by one or two associates, a prime necessity to enable them to
deceive the lookers-on. But here was an unpretentious, simply dressed
European, who stood before them alone, with only a small, common table
upon which to place necessary articles, plainly shown before all eyes,
who yet puzzled them completely. His tricks were mostly new to them,
and they gazed with open mouths at the white necromancer, then into
each others' faces, as much as to say: "What does this mean? whence
does this man obtain power to perform miracles?" All this was
intensely amusing to the English residents of Colombo, who also formed
a large portion of the audience.

But the climax was yet to come.

When Houdin finally blew a fiery flame and smoke from his mouth,--a
well-known act among European performers,--these superstitious
islanders absolutely fled from his presence in undisguised
consternation, unanimously and vehemently declaring that he must be
the king devil himself come to bewitch them. This was the more
surprising as these Indian experts must have realized the true source
of their own deceptive powers.

The hoarse, monotonous croaking of the crows at all hours of the day
is one of the ceaseless annoyances and accompaniments of life in
Colombo. Early risers see whole colonies of these obtrusive and
omnipresent birds coming in from their roosting-places in the
neighboring groves, seeking whom they may devour. They advance in
irresistible numbers, like an army with banners loudly announcing
their approach, like a marching regiment preceded by noisy fifes and
drums, now wheeling as one huge body, and now breaking into sections
and platoons. One might successfully resist a score of them, but when
they come by the thousand, it is like a plague of locusts. Crows enjoy
nearly the same immunity throughout the populous districts of India
proper, and are to be found nearly as much in possession at Benares,
Delhi, or Cawnpore as